Secrets of Libraries
by bgf24
Summary: Akaho and Claire are two girls that used to work for the NOL. Living as "sisters" now, they meet the Bloodedge, the Hero of Ikaruga, and a few other interesting characters. Hey, and maybe they'll find love amongst all the crazyness?
1. Chapter 1

_The fires raged hotter as I ran through them. Everything was burning; houses, shops, even firehouses, as ironic as that is. I didn't want to run though fire anymore. I wanted to get outside to the rain. And even though it rained as hard as the gods could make it, it never could dream of putting out these raging flames. I ran a little bit faster, pushing my protesting legs harder until I reached the door of the Japanese-style building. I ran into the thin door as hard as I could, knocking it off its henges and onto the ground outside. Rain started to fall down hard on the door, making a loud sound that I found strangely comforting. _

_But I couldn't dwell about that now. I had to run as far away as I could, as told by my mother and dying father. Dying father, I thought. How could I ever utter such a phrase? I'll tell you how; it was true. My father was dying--scratch that. By now, my father was probably already dead. My mother is probably dying now, if not dead herself. These thoughts rush through my head, and I start to cry again. I can't cry now, it'll just slow me down. I wipe my tears away as I try to run a little faster. Rain has now drenched me and my breathing is getting more and more labored because of the smoke and the running. Although, it's surprising I haven't run out of breath yet; I guess all that military-type training wasn't completely pointless. _

_I finally reach the forest at the edge of the city. I run through the forest a little, then collapse by a tree that curves downward into a small crawlspace. I, annoyed by the rain continuing to fall on my face, crawl into the small space. However, I'm stopped by a large object. Never mind, large objects don't sniffle. I finally identify the crying as a girl's, and catch my breath so I can speak. "Are you okay?" _

_The girl turns to me and shakes her head weakly. _

_My expression softens drastically, as this girl reminds me of someone I used to know. "Why are you here? Don't you have a family to be with?" I realize too late how rude this question is and how I would yell if a person asked me this. _

_She sniffs two or three times and shakes her head again. Furiously this time. _

_"I know how you feel, and I apologize at my rudeness. Do you have a name?" I find myself unconsiously wishing that this girl was my friend she reminded me of. _

_She shakes her head again. No name? This girl looks at least sixteen, she should have some kind of name... But after thinking for a minute, I find sense in her action. _

_I, for some odd reason, reply this way. "What a coincidence. I don't have a name either. What's say, you and I name each other?" I can't, for the life of me, remember why I said this. _

_In the darkness of the night, I see her smile a little, and I smile too. "Okay." That was the first thing I heard the girl say, and I won't ever forget how happy she sounded. _

_"Alright. Your name will be... Claire. It's supposed to be French for 'bright'. You better live up to this name, girly." I give her a half-smile for encouragement. _

_She smiles brightly at me, and I think about how she's already living up to her name. She looks at me for a second, then seems to look at my shoulder. I look down at my shoulder too and find myself unconsiously twirling some of my dark red hair around my finger. She seems to think for a second, then smiles. "Akaho. It's Japanese for 'red'. I-... I'm sorry I couldn't come up with anything better..."_

_I offer a reassuring close-eyed smile. "Don't be silly, Claire. It's great. I wish my par-... I wish I had been born with that kind of name." I think for a second about my parents, but Claire looks at me worriedly. "It's nothing. Claire, I've got a question I want to ask you. And you have to think about your answer really hard, okay?" _

_She smiles as I did before, but with her eyes open. "What's your question?" I find anticipation in her tone and smile to myself._

_I hesistate before I ask, thinking about how horrible a rejection would be. "Claire, I plan of leaving this place and living somewhere more peaceful. Would you like to come live with me as my sister?" I brace myself for her answer and swear to myself if she says 'no', I won't cry. _

_I don't expect the answer that comes out of her mouth. "That sounds great. When do we leave?" This is the first taste of Claire's spunky side I ever saw. She was smaller than me, so it was too cute. _

_I laugh a little. "Tonight."_

**(OMGRAMENISTHEBREAKFAST,LUNCH,ANDDINNEROFCHAMPIONS)**

My eyes pop open and I feel cold sweat on my brow. I lift my hand and wipe the sweat away as I sit up in bed. _That dream again? This is the third time in a row I've dreamed about Ikaruga... They have a name for this type of thing... _I kick my legs over the edge of my bed and walk over to my vanity mirror. I look at myself; my lavender-purple eyes are too big for me to be nineteen and my red hair is in messy curls that fall to my mid-back. I look at my profile, checking if my bust has grown any. I think it has. I smile at myself then walk out of my bedroom, into the kitchen where Claire is sitting at the table, eating cereal.

"'Morning, sis. 'Bout time you got up." Claire says to me through a mouthful of cereal.

I sneer down at her. "Don't be crabby just because the 'beauty sleep' theory actually works for me." Just as I finish my sentence, Claire throws her spoon at me. I think fast and dodge, letting the spoon lodge itself in the wall. "Watch it, Claire."

"I'll watch it with the silverware if you watch it with your remarks. Or are just gonna threaten me with playing cards?" She smirks up at me.

I pull a deck of playing cards out of my pajama pocket. "It's more than a threat, sweet little sister. It's a _promise_." I give her a similar smirk.

She stands up out of her chair, letting it slide behind her. "How about you keep that promise?"

I pluck the Ace of Hearts off the top of the deck and throw it with deadly precision, making a small cut on her left cheek. A bit of blood trickles out of the small wound, and she wipes it away. She then smiles cutely. "Your throws are as great as ever, sis! Putting Armagus in those cards is the coolest thing you've ever done!"

I give her a similar smile. "Silverware has never been so dangerous, Claire. Armagus in our silverware is killer and one heck of a convenience. You keep working at it though; if I can dodge it, many others from the Library can dodge it."

And that was the start of that fateful day. It's a wonder that Claire and I have come this far. Two years together and still this close... And who knew that waking up and leaving the house this morning would lead to meeting the Bloodedge, the Hero of Ikaruga, and some crazy ninja who thinks he's all that? I definitely didn't.

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Wowzers, that was tough. Writin' mah first BlazBlue fanfic is gonna be fun. Hopefully I'll get some support from you readers. Such as reviews? They're appreciated:)


	2. Chapter 2

I pull my brown t-shirt over my head and pop my head out of my bedroom door. "Hey, Claire! I'm gonna go into town for a little bit. Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna go into town too. I'm going to the Shopping District. What about you?" she replies from her own bedroom.

"Business, then Shopping. Could you pick up some soba noodles from the Shopping District for me, since you're going there first?" I ask.

"Sure." Claire replies shortly as I emerge from my room, dressed in a brown t-shirt, a brown and green plaid skirt and a pair of brown shoes. She emerges from hers in a black dress shirt and a black and red plaid skirt. "Lookin' good, sis. Who are you lookin' to impress?"

I chuckle a little. "An unsuspecting Library dog, I guess. What about you; are you trying to copy my look?" I raise my eyebrow a bit.

Claire gives me a sexy grin. "Psh, Akaho, I make your look _better." _She shakes her hips a little to reinforce her opinion.

"Whatever. You need anything from the Business District?" I ask again. Claire replies with a quick 'no' as I walk out of the front door and close it behind me, locking it to just be mean. I continue to walk down the street until I reach a small office building on the side of a crowded walkway. I push the door open and see a familiar face at the front desk.

"Good morning, Ms. Cross! Can I help you?" The receptionist, Patricia, asks me in a sickeningly sweet voice.

I try my best not to cringe at her tone, and reply in a similar one. "I just need to see The Board, that's all."

Patricia gives me a smile that clearly means she hates me and says, "Alright! You know where it is!" And although she says I know where it is, she motions to a large cork board on the wall--or, the cork board _is _the wall, I should say--to the right of me. I give her a faux-appreciative nod and walk over to the large board. Plastered all over the board are poorly-drawn pictures of the supposed 'Ragna the Bloodedge' and it makes me think that maybe I should just take one of the posters down and keep it with me.

I look at the rest of the board... Well, _if _there was a 'rest of the board'. The entire board was completely covered with the poorly-drawn pictures of 'The Bloodedge'. I finally take a good look at the amount of his bounty... Wow, that's a _lot _of zeros. I might actually have to think about hunting this guy down... I pull one of the posters off the board and tuck it into my pocket. I walk past the the front desk without so much as a glance toward Patricia and out of the door quickly. I make my way to the Shopping District, walking along a crowded street, filled with people I've seen before. Of course, I don't wave or smile. Why would I? I meant nothing to these people, I didn't owe anything to them. I tended to distance myself from people other than Claire.

Of course, that's what I thought until a tall man with silver hair bumps unto me. He passes without an 'excuse me' or an apology, and I huff in irritation. And in that huff, I caught scent of the man. I turn back to him and point furiously. "You reek!" I yell, before I can even think of reacting rationally. He turns to me with a scowl, clearly ready to defend himself, but my body reacts on its own and doesn't let him reply. I grab his wrist and pull him toward my house. "Come with me!" I yell uncontrollably. What the Library am I doing?! I can't believe I'm dragging this guy to my house with the intention of giving him a shower! I can't believe I just thought that! Oh, God, what is happening to me?! Am I becoming a hormone-driven teenager?! I'm nineteen, for Armagus's sake!

Before I even know it, we're at the house and I let go of his wrist. Surprisingly, he doesn't run away or anything. He simply watches me as I walked briskly toward the hallway closet. I roughly open the closet door and look up. I pull two folded towels from one of the higher shelves and slam the door. I walked back to the living room where he is just staring down at me. It then occurred to me that I didn't know who this man was, or what his name was, but at the time, I really didn't care. I shoved the towels in his face. "Take a shower! If you give me your clothes, I'll wash them and send you on your way! You can't just walk down the street smelling like that, man! You're gonna make people sick!!" I point at the bathroom and give him a stern look that means 'GO!'. He raises one of his brows but obeys the stern command anyway.

I watch him like a drill sergeant as he walks to the bathroom and closes the door behind him. "When you want your clothes washed, just leave them outside the door. If you get out of the shower before then, I guess I could find you some clothes..." I think I could remember getting some of my brother's clothes from my house two years ago... Oh, wow, what happened to my brother? Did he die? Well, even though he was my blood brother, I could've cared less right now. All I had right now was Claire, and I was completely satisfied with that.

"Uh, okay..." I hear him say, and my face turns bright red. This sound of his voice was... I didn't even know how to describe how it made me feel! It was wonderful and horrible at the same time; it was such a bittersweet harmony of tone, I was having trouble keeping myself standing... And since when have I used words like 'bittersweet harmony of tone'?! I really am turning into a hormone-stricken teen! Help me, Mother!

With a sudden burst of strength, I stand up straight and walk to my room at the end of the wall, searching for my brother's old clothes. After a few minutes, I find a box marked 'BC'. I take it that it means 'Brother's Clothes' and open it. I see a small pile of clothes in the box and remove them. I lift one of the shirts and see that it looks big enough for the guy in my shower... Agh! I start to blush again with the thought, then quickly shake the thoughts out of my head. I am a bad, hormonally-crazed girl, and I need therapy. _A lot _of therapy.

But, putting my strange need for counseling aside, I grab a shirt, pants, and a pair of boxers from the box and set them in front of the bathroom door, next to the pile of black, red, and white clothing that was already there. I pick up the latter and set them on top of the dryer so I can sort through them. A pair of socks, a black pair of boxers(which caused me to blush heavily, yet again), a large black pair of pants, a very stylish black shirt, and a red jacket that had a lot of clamps and belts hanging off of it. All of the items of clothing were still warm from his body heat, and before I could think about that anymore, I throw all of the clothes in the washer and send them through a regular cycle. I sigh to myself and lean against the washer in exhaustion. Alright, this is just enough blushing and way too many perverted thoughts for one day. What has this man done to me?!

I hear the bathroom door open and him step out. The sight I see takes my breath away. He stands in a pair of loose blue jeans, with the top of a white pair of boxers peeking out of the top. And nothing else. "The shirt was too short, but everything else fits alright..." he holds the shirt out to me. My eyes are wide as I continue to stare. I notice him stare at me with confusion clearly written on his face.

I shake my head and snatch the shirt out of his hand. "Uh, okay. I'll try to find something for you while your clothes get washed..." I walk back to my room and shut my door. I slide down against the door and hold my face in my hands. How could I just stand there and gawk at him?! I can't believe this; I've never been one of those girls! I've never been that typical teenage girl that goes crazy about a shirtless guy, but now, all of a sudden-! Ugh, I just can't believe this!

As a scream at and chastise myself in my head, I hear the front door open. Is he trying to leave?

"Akaho, I'm ho-... Akaho, why is there a slightly attractive, shirtless man in our living room?" I heard Claire yell from the living room in a calm, nonchalant voice.

Oh yeah. I can't wait to hear what Claire thinks.

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Holy Junks, you guys. That was a really long second chapter, huh? But I just wanted to get to when Claire got home, so I guess it's alright. Oh, and I thank Xouls Rainez for my first and only review; THANK YOU LOTS! It's makes me happy that someone's actually reading this:) Well, until next time! Reviews are appreciated! ~bgf24


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